Delhi liquor policy case: ED issues 6th summons to CM Arvind Kejriwal, asks him to appear on…
The central agency has asked him to appear on February 19.
Turkey rescuers battle to save workers trapped in landslide-hit gold mine
Disaster highlights country’s poor safety record, as previous calls to shut down Copler mine went unheeded. Turkey is under pressure to shut down a gold mine buried by a massive landslide, as hundreds of rescuers battle to save at least nine trapped workers. The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects said on Wednesday that the government should close the Copler mine in the eastern town of Ilic “immediately”. The union said its past warnings about a looming disaster had gone unheeded. “All those responsible for the disaster should be held accountable before the judiciary,” it said in a statement. “All environmental impact reports should be cancelled and the plant should be closed immediately.” Rescuers were deployed to search through cyanide-saturated soil to save the workers, trapped when 10 million cubic metres of sludge rolled over their open pit on Tuesday. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Wednesday that some 1,700 search and rescue personnel, including police and military teams, mine rescuers and volunteers, were deployed to find the mine workers. Of the nine missing, five people were believed to be in a container hut, three in a vehicle and one in a truck, he said at the disaster site. Relatives of missing miners arrive after a landslide hit a gold mine operated by Anagold Mining in the Ilic district of Erzincan province, Turkey, January 14, 2024 [Ugur Yildirim via Getty Images] An investigation has been launched and the authorities said on Wednesday that four people, including the pit’s field manager, had been arrested. The mine is run by private company Anagold, which has been extracting gold in the region since 2010. Eighty percent of Anagold is owned by SSR Mining, which is based in Denver in the United States, and Turkey-based Lidya Madencilik and Calik Holding. The mine produced 56,768 ounces (1,609kg) of gold in the third quarter of last year and is SSR’s second-largest producing gold mine. Cyanide Rescuers have been searching through a cyanide-laced field in the area, located in Turkey’s mountainous Erzincan province, to find the workers. Environmentalists fear that cyanide and sulphuric acid used in the gold extraction process could spread into the Euphrates River, which runs from Turkey to neighbouring Syria and Iraq. The Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change said in a statement that a stream leading to the Euphrates was closed to prevent water pollution. Erzincan Governor Hamza Aydogdu said there was no leakage into the waterway. But the Ilic Nature and Environment Platform, a local pressure group, said the stream had already mixed with the Euphrates. “Don’t seal off [the stream], seal off the mine,” the group said. Poor safety record The mine was closed down in 2020 following a cyanide leak caused by a burst pipe into the river. It reopened two years later after the company was fined and a cleanup operation was completed. A Turkish court then fined the company 16.5 million Turkish lire ($537,000 at the current exchange rate). But local efforts to shut it down failed. Turkey has a poor mine safety record. In 2022, an explosion at the Amasra coal mine on the Black Sea coast killed 41 workers. The country’s worst mining disaster took place in 2014 at a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, where 301 people were killed. In the wake of those incidents, engineers warned that safety risks were frequently ignored and inspections not adequately carried out. Adblock test (Why?)
Mogul Press: Mastering Global Influence With Local Insight – The Approach To International PR
Mogul Press is showcasing how global outreach and local resonance can create a harmonious and impactful symphony.
Biden says Trump questioning European commitment to NATO is ‘dumb,’ ‘un-American’
President Biden condemned former President Donald Trump as “un-American” after the GOP frontrunner encouraged Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO members that did not meet spending guidelines on defense. Biden responded to the former president from the White House on Tuesday, calling the criticism of fellow NATO member nations “shameful” and “dumb.” “The former president has set a dangerous, and shockingly, frankly un-American signal to the world,” Biden said at the White House on Tuesday. TRUMP’S NATO COMMENTS TRIGGER FIERCE MEDIA AND EUROPEAN OPPOSITION: HOW SERIOUS CAN HE BE? “When America gives its word, it means something. When we make a commitment, we keep it. And NATO’s a sacred commitment. Donald Trump looks at this as if it’s a burden,” the president continued. Trump made the comments during a campaign speech Saturday in Conway, South Carolina. The former U.S. president said “one of the presidents of a big country” once asked him whether the U.S. would still defend their country if they were invaded by Russia, even if they did not pay. WHITE HOUSE RESPONDS TO TRUMP ENCOURAGING RUSSIA TO DO ‘WHATEVER’ THEY WANT TO SOME NATO MEMBERS: ‘UNHINGED’ “No, I would not protect you,” Trump recalled telling that country’s leader. “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.” NATO states that an attack on one member nation is an attack on all the nations in the alliance. Trump has previously taken issue with the smaller amount of money other NATO countries spend on defense compared with what the U.S. pays. He has also threatened multiple times in the past to withdraw the U.S. from NATO. “The whole world heard it. The worst thing is, he means it,” Biden said of Trump’s rhetoric, calling the statements “an invitation to Putin.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “No other president in our history has ever bowed down to a Russian dictator. Let me say this as clearly as I can: I never will. For God’s sake, it’s dumb, it’s shameful, it’s dangerous,” he added.
Trump rips ‘foolish’ GOP candidate who lost NY special election for distancing herself from MAGA
Former President Trump slammed Republican candidate Mazi Pilip after she lost the special election for a U.S. House seat in New York to Democrat Tom Suozzi. In a late night Truth Social post, Trump called Pilip a “foolish woman” and claimed she lost on Tuesday because she did not endorse him. “Republicans just don’t learn, but maybe she was still a Democrat? I have an almost 99% Endorsement Success Rate in Primaries, and a very good number in the General Elections, as well, but just watched this very foolish woman, Mazi Melesa Pilip, running in a race where she didn’t endorse me and tried to ‘straddle the fence,’ when she would have easily WON if she understood anything about MODERN DAY politics in America,” Trump wrote. Pilip, an Ethiopian-born Nassau County legislator, originally registered as a Democrat in 2012 before running for office as a Republican, according to Politico. While campaigning in New York, she kept Trump at arm’s length and said she would not support him for reelection if he is convicted of a crime, according to the New York Post. DEMS FLIP SEAT AS SUOZZI WINS CRUCIAL SPECIAL CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION IN NEW YORK The 2024 GOP front-runner went on to say that his supporters stayed home in the closely watched special election to fill the seat vacated by disgraced former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y. “I STAYED OUT OF THE RACE, ‘I WANT TO BE LOVED!’ GIVE US A REAL CANDIDATE IN THE DISTRICT FOR NOVEMBER. SUOZZI, I KNOW HIM WELL, CAN BE EASILY BEATEN!” Trump wrote. The special election in a New York City suburb attracted large investments from Republicans and Democrats, who saw the race as a bellwether ahead of the likely showdown between President Biden and Trump. The Long Island district held for a decade by Democrats was flipped by Santos in the 2022 midterms. But Santos was kicked out of Congress less than a year into his tenure, after he was exposed for lying about his background and indicted for a slew of financial crimes. ELECTION DAY SNOWSTORM HITS AS CANDIDATES IN CRUCIAL SPECIAL HOUSE ELECTION MAKE CLOSING CASES Suozzi, who represented the district for six years before running unsuccessfully for governor, repeatedly tied Pilip to Santos, as well as to former President Donald Trump. “Who knows what she really stands for? She’s George Santos 2.0. It’s the exact same nontransparent, phony baloney, just trying to get votes instead of saying what you really think,” Suozzi charged on the eve of the election. And Suozzi, a former mayor and county executive, argued that Pilip — who is in her second term as a county lawmaker — “is a far-right wing extremist” who is “totally in line with Mike Johnson and Donald Trump .” Pilip, an Ethiopian Jew who fled to Israel at age 12 to escape persecution and who later enlisted and served in the Israeli military before immigrating to the United States, linked Suozzi to President Biden and blamed him for the migrant crisis. NEW YORK SPECIAL ELECTION CANDIDATES CLASH OVER BORDER CRISIS, ABORTION: ‘YOU CREATED THIS ISSUE’ “You know, he is the one who opened the southern border. He voted with Biden 100% of the time. He supported squad members 90% of the time, he is the one who caused the migrant crisis,” Philip claimed in a Fox News interview on Sunday. Suozzi, a centrist and moderate Democrat, kept his distance from Biden and his party when it came to immigration. But the White House announced that the president called Suozzi to congratulate him on his victory. And the Biden campaign argued that “Donald Trump lost again tonight. When Republicans run on Trump’s extreme agenda — even in a Republican-held seat — voters reject them.” Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
NATO members brace for Trump win as record number of members move to meet spending pledges
A majority of NATO members will meet their spending targets this year as member states grapple with the potential of former President Trump winning re-election in November. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced Wednesday that 18 of the alliance’s 31 members are on track to meet their pledges of contributing 2% of GDP to the group. European states are on track to contribute $380 billion this year, and Germany will meet its 2% pledge for the first time since the Cold War. The figures show a dramatic uptick compared to 2023, which saw just 11 NATO allies meet their 2% spending pledge. “That is another record number and a six-fold increase from 2014 when only three allies met the target,” Stoltenberg said at a press conference on Wednesday. UKRAINE AID PACKAGE WOULD BE USED TO IMPEACH TRUMP, SEN VANCE WARNS The change comes after Trump offered harsh words for NATO allies at a campaign rally last week, going so far as to suggest the U.S. would not defend NATO allies that do not contribute their full share. WHY BIDEN’S ANGER AND DEFENSIVENESS INFLAMED ANXIETY ABOUT HIS MEMORY ISSUES Stoltenberg called on Trump not to destabilize the alliance in his remarks on Wednesday. “We should leave no room for miscalculation or misunderstanding in Moscow, about our readiness and our commitment, our resolve to protect allies,” he said. This weekend, Trump recalled a conversation he had with the president “of a big country,” who he says asked him if they did not increase their defense contribution to the North Atlantic alliance “and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?” TRUMP TAKES FAMILIAR DIG AT JUSTICE SYSTEM AFTER BIDEN DOCUMENTS REPORT: ‘SICK’ “NATO was busted until I came along,” Trump said. “I said, ‘Everybody’s gonna pay.’ They said, ‘Well, if we don’t pay, are you still going to protect us?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ They couldn’t believe the answer.” The statement triggered an immediate response from President Biden’s White House, which denounced the statement as “unhinged.” White House spokesman Andrew Bates continued the administration’s theme of Biden’s presidency being a return to normalcy following Trump’s time in office. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “President Biden has restored our alliances and made us stronger in the world because he knows every commander in chief’s first responsibility is to keep the American people safe and hold true to the values that unite us,” Bates said in a statement. “Thanks to President Biden’s experienced leadership, NATO is now the largest and most vital it has ever been. Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged – and it endangers American national security, global stability, and our economy at home.”
Paint and tears: Northwest Syria commemorates 2023 earthquakes
Jindires, northwest Syria – On the night of February 5, people across northwest Syria stayed up all night, till 4:30am, before they could close their eyes and sleep, reassured that the anniversary of last year’s earthquakes had passed without somehow triggering another devastating quake. The caution was not based on a scientific warning but rather a fear that the disaster that killed and injured thousands of people and continues to displace tens of thousands more would somehow recur. From the north of Aleppo province to western and southern Idlib, the effects of the earthquakes are still visible in cracked buildings and camps filled with tents of the people who lost their homes amid war, poverty and declining humanitarian aid. Only the rubble has been cleared from the streets. Jindires, one year on Early in the morning on February 6, people began to gather in a gallery on the outskirts of Jindires, one of the worst-hit areas, among them were many members of the White Helmets, otherwise known as Syria Civil Defence, who had worked tirelessly to rescue people from the earthquakes’ destruction. Syria Civil Defence Director Raed al-Saleh speaks on the first anniversary of the earthquakes [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera] They were there to mark the first anniversary of the earthquakes with a public event and exhibition. They spoke to the press about what the earthquakes did to an area whose infrastructure was already decimated by years of war and where a severe shortage of emergency equipment had hampered the emergency response. “There was a lack of machinery, and there were no international teams or immediate aid to help us respond to the disaster,” White Helmets media official Hamid Qatini told Al Jazeera. Even though they deployed all their available equipment, they still did not have enough to cover the widespread destruction, Qatini added. The long delay in getting any aid into northwest Syria caused even more hardship to an already traumatised population. Images of loss As soon as Fatima Hamoudi entered the exhibition, her tears began to flow. The 50-year-old woman lost her son, Muhammad, his wife and his daughter during the earthquakes. His five-year-old son, also named Muhammad, was the only survivor. A painting depicts the suffering of the people of northern Syria due to the earthquakes [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera] “I knew that I had lost him as soon as I heard about the earthquake,” said Hamoudi, who had been in Turkey at the time and had talked to her son on the phone the previous evening. As soon as she heard about the quake, she tried in vain to communicate with the family. “He was under the rubble for a whole day,” Hamoudi said, noting that she was unable to say goodbye to him and that it took six months for her to return to Syria, where she lives today, to take care of her grandson. Hamoudi toured the exhibition, looking sadly at the images of the destruction. Next to paintings representing the work of the White Helmets stood the painter, Gulstan Bouzou, who said her paintings express gratitude. “I tried to add hope in my drawings,” she said. She had been in nearby Afrin city when the quakes hit, and over the past months, she has used her art to help those affected and has taught drawing and music to children orphaned in the disaster. Visitors view a map and documents about the disaster during the exhibition [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera] “We’re still working on starting other educational projects during the coming months,” Bouzou said. “I want to revive hope and tell survivors that overcoming disaster is possible.” Murals on destroyed walls About an hour’s drive away from Jindires, in Maland, west of Idlib, there are also artistic commemorations of what hit the region a year ago. But here, the colours are splashed onto the damaged walls that remain standing, perhaps as a message of hope. “The earthquake left a huge trauma,” graffiti artist Salam al-Hamed told Al Jazeera. “We haven’t forgotten what happened yet.” Over the past few days, al-Hamed and her fellow painters in the Brush of Hope group visited several of the worst-affected cities and towns in the countryside of Idlib province. They painted murals depicting the disaster and the White Helmets rescuing people trapped under the rubble. A mural shows the White Helmets rescuing a girl from under the rubble after the 2023 quakes in northwestern Syria [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera] “Our drawings were related to the suffering and pain of people, especially those who were stuck under the rubble and were praying for life but were buried and dead while waiting for help,” al-Hamed said, referring to more than 4,500 people killed by the earthquakes. “Other murals are about resilience, patience and loss.” Destruction, death and damage are things the people of the northwest, the last area in Syria controlled by opposition forces, are accustomed to after 13 years of war and continuous bombing by government forces and their ally Russia. But the earthquakes were nothing like any other disaster experienced in Syria’s modern history, leaving shock and fear so deep that it remains with them today. [embedded content] Adblock test (Why?)
Iran condemns ‘terrorist’ attack on gas pipelines
The explosions took place on the south-north gas pipeline, reportedly cutting off gas supply to industries and offices. An Iranian government official has blamed “terrorism and sabotage” for twin explosions on gas pipelines overnight. While there are few details about the blasts, one occurred on the mainline gas route running from Iran’s central Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province north to major gas fields in the Caspian Sea, state media reported on Wednesday. The other explosion was reported in the southern province of Fars. The blasts come amid raised tension as Israel’s war in Gaza threatens to spill over across the region. While Tehran has not specified who it suspects, it has linked other such incidents to Israel over the years. “This terrorist act of sabotage occurred at 1am (21:30 GMT) on Wednesday morning in the network of national gas transmission pipelines in two regions of the country,” oil minister Javad Owji told state TV. Starting in Asaluyeh, a hub for Iran’s offshore South Pars gas field, the first pipeline runs 1,270 kilometres (790 miles) to the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. Authorities denied reports that the incident caused gas cuts to industries and offices. “We hope the pipeline will be repaired and will become operational as soon as possible,” Saeed Aghili, the manager of Iran’s gas network control centre, told Iranian state television. Usual suspect In the past, Arab separatists in southwestern Iran have claimed attacks against oil pipelines. But attacks on such infrastructure are rare elsewhere. However, in recent years, tensions have risen as Iran faces an economy hobbled by international sanctions over its nuclear programme. Tehran has also faced rare mass civil unrest, most recently in 2022, over the death of Mahsa Amini following her non-compliance with hijab rules. But Iran has generally blamed agents of Israel for similar acts of alleged sabotage in the past. Israel has carried out attacks in Iran, but has predominantly targeted its nuclear programme. The war on Gaza has worsened relations between the two countries. Iranian-linked groups, like Yemen’s Houthis and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, have launched attacks on Israel and shipping in the Red Sea in what they say is intended as defence of Palestinians. On Tuesday, the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog warned that Iran is “not entirely transparent” regarding its atomic programme. Adblock test (Why?)
Spanish folk festival participants burn Israeli flag
NewsFeed An Israeli flag was burned by people taking part in this carnival in the north of Spain, where the government has been openly critical of Israel’s war on Gaza. Published On 14 Feb 202414 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Rural Texans, internet providers worry that feds’ broadband expansion plan will have a painfully slow rollout
A historic $3.3 billion federal investment in broadband could connect millions of Texans to the internet. But getting the money to the right hands could be a challenge.